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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28668858">All that was shown to me, sunlight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/willannanan/pseuds/willannanan'>willannanan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Caduceus Clay Deserves Nice Things, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, i know this says caduceus/oc but i'm gonna try to work in cad's aroaceness, no beta we die like Spurt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:00:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,988</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28668858</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/willannanan/pseuds/willannanan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at how my OC and Caduceus first met. Hopefully Cad isn't too ooc, I tried my best.</p><p>Title taken from Hozier's "Sunlight" because I listened to that excessively while writing a lot of this.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Caduceus Clay/Original Character(s), Caduceus Clay/Original Male Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Being stabbed is a big deal and not at all advisable</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seron had spent most of his life running. Not necessarily running from something or to something, no most of the time he was just… running. He’d never been very good at staying still, never found a reason to.</p><p>It wasn’t ever a problem, the running. At least it wasn’t until now. He’d maybe, potentially, ever so slightly gotten himself into a shit load of trouble.</p><p>Okay, no, that was a lie.</p><p>He had <em>definitely</em> gotten himself in trouble.</p><p>He hadn’t meant to piss them off. How was he supposed to know some of the local bandits would be offended? It’s not like they told him not to or anything. Maybe. He didn’t really remember if he was being completely honest, he’d just taken the job and completed it. He figured he’d gone his whole life without paying attention to the fine print on contracts so why bother now?</p><p>Seron had been about to leave Shadycreek when the bandits jumped him. They’d managed to sneak up on him which was… impressive. And a problem. Bastards.</p><p>It had been a long day and Seron was tired, uncharacteristically off his game (that’s what he told himself anyway). He’d barely had time to react before he was stabbed, his long ears flicking slightly just before he was aware of one blade sinking into his side above his hip, making his leg throb painfully and almost definitely ensuring him a lifetime of hip problems. Which was great. Just wonderful. Despite this, he’d dispatched of the bandits and left town as quickly as possible, not really paying attention to where he was going, just knowing he needed to leave, and he needed to leave <em>now</em>.</p><p>Which led to another problem.</p><p>Because in his haste to escape, Seron had wandered into the Savalier woods. And was currently trying to outrun several bears with a dodgy leg and blood pouring down his side. Blood that was staining his favourite white shirt.</p><p>By some miracle or just pure dumb luck (Finn suspected it was the latter) he’d stumbled upon a temple in the woods. As he hobbled closer, the bears catching up rather quickly now, he passed through something invisible. A wave of magic washed over his skin, lingering in a way that made him shudder and his elven ears twitched unpleasantly.</p><p>“Gross.”</p><p>A loud roar ripped through the air behind him and he turned, his eyes wide and breathing shaky, only to see the bears pressed up against an invisible barrier. Thank fuck for that. His lips cured into an exhausted grin and he saluted the beasts with two fingers, feeling immensely grateful.</p><p>Right. Now he needed to get inside and do something about his hip. Luckily he could see the temple doors were open and with a sigh, he limped over. With every step his leg threatened to give out more each time, the wound pulling and shifting awkwardly in a way he hadn’t noticed before. It was nauseating.</p><p>The adrenaline was leaving his body and he sagged against a wall inside, wincing as the pain increased with each passing second. The floor dipped, twisting strangely. His vision cut out for a second and he blinked sluggishly.</p><p>“Huh.”</p><p>That was weird. He could’ve sworn he’d been standing just a second ago. Oh well. Heavy exhaustion tugged at his shoulders and he slumped more against the wall. Logically, Seron knew he was probably going to die. He could see dark blood starting to stain the beautiful stone floor and he frowned slightly, feeling almost guilty for ruining the stonework. That would be a bitch to clean up.</p><p>Part of his mind was screaming at him, begging him to get up, to move, to just do anything. But everything was so heavy, and he was <em>so tired</em>. Somewhere in the back of his head he was aware that a simple stabbing shouldn’t have taken him out of commission so quickly. I t hadn’t before, anyway. That sounded like a problem for future Finn though. If he survived, that is.</p><p>He shifted slightly and groaned at the pain that shot through him like a spark of lightning, hot and burning. His eyelashes fluttered, heavy, and he blinked sluggishly.</p><p>It would be okay to die here, he noted. The fading sunset filtered across the floor prettily, casting dancing patterns that were entrancing and comforting. If only he could get his eyes to focus long enough to properly appreciate it.</p><p>His eyelids shut involuntarily. He forced them open and then wondered why he bothered. He was exhausted, tired of everything, of working and running and suffering. It hurt.</p><p>Distantly, Seron was aware of footsteps approaching him. They were heavy and the pattern was odd, almost as if the person had a limp. He would’ve checked but his eyes had closed again and he couldn’t force them open even if he wanted to. And he most certainly didn’t want to.</p><p>“What do we have here?” The voice sounded far away, distorted like it was underwater. But that couldn’t be right because soft hands were holding onto his arms, turning and twisting him. The person was close. Maybe. Shit, everything hurt so much.</p><p>A hand passed over his hip gently and he flinched, his nerves on fire. Fuck, that hurt. A strangled hiss managed to escape his clenched teeth. The hand paused, hovering slightly and he heard a quiet sigh.</p><p>“This is going to hurt. I’m sorry.”</p><p>Seron didn’t have time to prepare, to move away, to do anything, before white hot pain burned through him, somehow moving too fast and too slow and leaving his nerve endings fried and aching. A faint scream echoed in his ears before everything stopped and he went limp, finally falling unconscious.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Where's my shirt?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Images danced across Seron’s vision. A firbolg’s face with calm eyes, bright pink hair, something being poured down his throat, gentle hands poking at his wound – oh that hurt like a bitch. Still, the only reaction he could give was a slight groan as sweat began to collect on his forehead. A soft voice cooed at him, humming slightly, and Seron drifted off again.</p>
<p>The next time he woke was… an experience. He didn’t die so that was a plus. But everything was kind of hazy and off and his body ached strangely, somehow too hot and too cold at once.</p>
<p>His eyes fluttered open and he sat up slowly. Something twinged on his side, not enough to hurt but enough to make him notice it. His brown eyes looked down only to meet red angry skin. He shifted slightly to get a closer look and hissed.</p>
<p>“You’re awake. That’s nice.”</p>
<p>Seron’s head shot up at the noise, his heart skipping a beat and his breathing speeding up as he met the gaze of a pale grey firbolg. His ears lay flat against his head in fear and by the way the man’s eyes darted to the side of Seron’s head he guessed he’d noticed them. He saw the firbolg’s pink eyes cloud slightly with concern at his frightened actions, the dopey smile slipping from his face. A small frown tugged at Seron’s lips at this, his hands visibly shaking from the fever.</p>
<p>“Your wound is infected,” the firbolg said in that gentle rumbling voice of his and Seron blinked.</p>
<p>“Oh.” He looked down at his side again. “That’s not ideal.”</p>
<p>The firbolg chuckled slightly and walked over, holding his hands out placidly when he saw Seron flinch. “No, I don’t suppose it is.”</p>
<p>Seron watched the man gently and slowly place his hands – which kind of resembled paws now that Seron thought about it – on his hip, flinching slightly at the pain before forcing himself to hold still. As the man kneaded the wound he felt a comforting warmth spread through him, chasing away the burning feeling. It was pleasant, something Seron wasn’t used to from magic. He sighed in relief, the tension visibly leaving his body.</p>
<p>“There we go,” the firbolg said, his voice even and weirdly comforting. “The infection was already deep when I found you, this is going to take a while to fix.”</p>
<p>Seron shrugged non-committedly, barely moving his shoulders. Though by the way he firbolg’s eyes watched him, he assumed he’d caught the half-assed movement.</p>
<p>“I can leave,” he mumbled tiredly,” I’m sure you have more important things to tend to.”</p>
<p>The firbolg frowned. “The infection will spread too far if you leave, you won’t make it.” He shook his head and his eyes were… sad? Seron shifted uncomfortably at the idea of making the kind man sad.</p>
<p>“Okay… well, thank you Mr…?”</p>
<p>The dopey smile reappeared on the man’s face. “Clay, Caduceus Clay. And you are?”</p>
<p>“Seron.”</p>
<p>The firbolg – Caduceus, Seron remembered – turned around and began bustling around the tiny room, grabbing what looked like a kettle and two cups. Seron took the quiet moment to look at the room he was in, his eyes taking in his surroundings with a nosy curiosity.</p>
<p>In one corner stood a staff and a shield, they looked like they were moved fairly regularly and had been propped up in a slight hurry, judging by the fact that the shield had obviously toppled over at some point. From the brief glance he got inside the cupboards as Caduceus was grabbing things he could see they were filled to the brim, cluttered with things that probably didn’t belong in cupboards but hey, who was he to judge? The more he looked around, the guiltier Seron felt. He was small, only 5”6, but he was already taking up so much of the cramped room, space that was obviously needed.</p>
<p>“Here you go.”</p>
<p>A cup was pushed into his hands, effectively stopping his train of thought, and he wrapped his fingers around it carefully to avoid spilling the contents on his bare chest.</p>
<p>Wait a minute.</p>
<p>“Where’s my shirt?” He asked, his eyed narrowed slightly. That shirt was his favourite – not because it was his only shirt, although that had something to do with it. The bed dipped next to him as Caduceus sat down too, his own cup in hand.</p>
<p>“Ah, I tried to wash the stains out as best as I could but, well…”</p>
<p>“Blood’s a bitch to get out?” Seron offered helpfully, not missing the way Caduceus’s eyes crinkled slightly in amusement at his crass language.</p>
<p>“Yes. You can borrow one of mine?”</p>
<p>It seemed that was less of a question than it sounded like though as Caduceus had already pulled a box out from under the bed and was pulling out a white shirt.</p>
<p>Seron took the offered clothing gratefully – placing his cup on the floor – and pulled it over his head slowly to avoid shifting his wound too much. The soft fabric fell to halfway down his thighs and his hands were hidden by the ends of the sleeves, but he didn’t mind. In fact it was comforting.</p>
<p>“Thank you,” he said quietly and began to drink his tea. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Caduceus watching him. It wasn’t malicious, it seemed… curious? And slightly concerned? That was new. Seron couldn’t really recall anyone being concerned about him. It was weird, he decided.</p>
<p>He finished his tea and yawned, tears appearing in the corners of his eyes from the action. The cup in his hands was lifted and he felt a heavy hand rest on his shoulder for a split second, patting him.</p>
<p>“Get some rest.”</p>
<p>Seron nodded sleepily, suddenly very tired, and curled up on his uninjured side. He made sure he could still see the room (a habit he’d picked up early on in life after the first time he was nearly murdered in his sleep) and lazily watched Caduceus pad around the room, cleaning things and grabbing various objects from random places. He was humming, Seron noted, and the sound was calming enough to send him off to sleep again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hi! just wanted to say i'm not sure when i'll next get this updated because i don't have an actual plan for this yet and the next chapter's being difficult. so until then have a lovely day/night/week! :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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